No Merit in Claims That EVMs Can Be Tampered With: Election Commission

Kejriwal, on Wednesday, said that AAP's poor tally of 20 seats in Punjab is "beyond understanding" and raises a "big question mark" on the reliability of electronic voting machines (EVMs) as political pundits across the spectrum had "predicted a landslide" for the party, he told a press conference in New Delhi.

Representative photo (Reuters)

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Thursday unequivocally denied that electronic voting machines (EVMs) could be tampered with.

"So far, no one could demonstrate that EVMs used by us can be tampered with or manipulated," said the Commission in a statement.

Smarting from the drubbing at the hustings, BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday decided to move court against the alleged tampering of EVMs and observe a ‘black day’ every month against the “murder of democracy” by the BJP.

The BSP leader, who had alleged large-scale tampering in the EVMs soon after results were announced on March 11, said that to hide its “dishonest victory”, the BJP has now taken refuge in saying that had that been the case they would have done the same in Punjab, Goa and Manipur.

The Commission was quick to deny such claims and said: "There is no merit in claims that EVMs can be tampered with, such allegations are wild and baseless."

Arvind Kejriwal too was quick to blame the EVMs for the party's poor showing in Goa and Punjab elections.

Kejriwal, on Wednesday, said that AAP's poor tally of 20 seats in Punjab is "beyond understanding" and raises a "big question mark" on the reliability of electronic voting machines (EVMs) as political pundits across the spectrum had "predicted a landslide" for the party, he told a press conference in New Delhi.

Kejriwal also demanded that the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election be held via a paper ballot instead of EVMs.

The Delhi Election Commissioner though has rejected the demand of AAP to conduct the polls through ballot paper.